The Japanese and Seasonal Greetings

Among other things, the Japanese are famous for being an indirect people, and for having a language that uses subtlety and nuance in interesting ways -- some of which can be frustrating to us foreigners, who wonder why the conversation we've been listening to for five minutes seems to lack any verbalized sentence subjects. This unique indirectness can be seen in Japanese letters, which follow a very set form. Before you get to the point of your letter, it's polite to write a seasonal greeting called jiko no aisatsu which changes depending on what time of year it is currently. In October you might write, "The days get colder and the autumn color of the trees deepens around us..." or in May, "The vibrant green color of the leaves has returned..." (Note, it sounds less dorky in Japanese, here is a page with some examples of these special letter-writing seasonal phrases.) If you're in a hurry and can't come up with something beautiful and poetic to write in your letter, there's a word you can use (zenryaku) which essentially means, "Sorry for writing an abbreviated letter to you, I'll move on the actual lbody of the letter now."

Damn, I really want to go to Kyoto this fall.

Fun with Japanese TV Commercials

Japanese TV commercials -- the word is always abbreviated as "CM" in Japanese -- never fail to impress me with their creativity. Like one commercial airing right now for Georgia Coffee's new European Blend, in which former Japanese national soccer coach Philippe Troussier moves from the Eiffel Tower across the screen to Tokyo Tower (a scale replica, proving that the Japanese secretly wish they were part of Europe) to hand a can of hot coffee to a hardworking Japanese construction worker. Or the ongoing adventures of the cute white dog Otousan ("dad"), which lady at Softbank was surprised to hear have quite a following on the Internet. Often the point of a TV commercial is to plant the name of a brand in your mind in a weird way. That's the aim of a new CM run by the Seiyu department store/supermarket chain (incidentally owned by Walmart), which feature a Russian girl at a Japanese speech contest reading a heavily accented speech about how it's mottainai ("a terrible waste") that more people don't come in and buy from the store chain.

Japanese TV commercials are always entertaining. Here are the three commercials:

 

 

The Seiyu CM can be seen here.

High School of the Dead and Names

I'm still getting caught up on all the anime series I wasn't able to watch while in the U.S. My current favorite is the awesome High School of the Dead, a classic zombies-take-over-the-world story that's been updated with plenty of fresh anime memes and fan service, yet actually possessing a well-written story. As is often the case in anime, there might be times when characters do things that are puzzling to Westerners. Like how the tsundere rich girl Saya Takagi hates it when Takashi calls her by her family name (Takagi) rather than her first name (Saya), since calling someone by their last name implies a polite emotional distance which she doesn't want between them. Once I called the home of a female student and made the mistake of using the girl's first name by itself without a name suffix like -san on the end while talking with her mother. The woman wanted to know who I was and what my relationship to her daughter was.

I am enjoying High School of the Dead for several reasons.

Cool Products Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Here are today's "really cool products" that I've picked out for you, out of the 30+ new items we've added to the J-List and JBOX.com sites today. Note that some products may be "not safe for work" but that all links will allow you to redirect yourself either to the J-List or JBOX.com websites. To see all the J-List products, check out J-List or the JBOX.com updated products link.

	GeMaga ~ Game Magazine Oct. 2010 First up today, a brand new issue of the magazine that takes you inside the action of Japan's hottest video games.
	COSMODE July 2010 ~ Super Cosplay Magazine 034 Another great magazine for you, the best cosplay resource in print packed with tons of photos and how-to guides!
	Awesome 2011 Anime Calendars In Stock! We've got all your bases covered with the new anime calendars for next year, including Pixiv, Naruto, One Piece, and more.
	Ghibli & Totoro Calendars, Too All the best calendars from Miyazaki's masterworks are here too, including the ever-popular and adorable Totoro for 2011.
	Yotsubato Daily Calendar 2011 April ~ 2012 Mar Get your daily dose of the adorable Yotsuba with this April-to-March page a day desk calendar - preorder now!
	Ore no Imouto manga vol. 1&2 The new hit moe anime this fall, we think you'll love the Oreimo manga too!
	Haruhi Suzumiya Artbook ~ Fall and Winter Wow! The most amazing Haruhi artbook we've seen, along with the spring and summer volume. Perfect for art collectors and fans.
	Queen's Blade Rebellion ~ Gekidou Picturebook A sexy illustrated Queen's Blade storybook, complete with audio drama CD - all your favorite characters in new fantastic situations!
	Youkai Jiten Visual Fanbook Here's a gorgeous artbook in the Moe Moe Encyclopedia series, which introduces the beautiful youkai (traditional Japanese monsters).
	Shirow Masamune Calendar, Artbooks Shirow Masamune is in a class by himself when it comes to creating beautiful women -- new 2011 calendar and restocked artbooks!
	Hysteric mini 25th anniversary book A look at the cutest pop kids fashions from 25 years of Hysteric's junior brand, Mini. With great shoulder bags as extras!
	GATSBY Pink Men's Hair Wax / Spiky Edge Japan's premiere hair care brand strikes again, with this ingenious solution to getting your hair perfectly spiked.
	Japanese High School High Socks ~ Navy A pair of navy Japanese "high socks" like all the Japanese high school girls are wearing. Plus, fresh stock of "socks glue" to hold them up.
	Naruto ~ Hinata Hyuga Cosplay set You can cosplay as the cute and shy Hinata from Naruto with this great costume set, good for Halloween or your next con!
	Fate/stay night Artbooks, Cosplay We've got all your Fate needs covered, with great artbooks from the anime and game as well as Rin Tohsaka cosplay and more!
	Awesome Cosplay Eye Patch We've also restocked that awesome eye patch that can be seen in Evangelion, Ikki Tousen and other popular shows. Halloween is not far off!
	MAMESHIBA Big Pen Case An extra large pen case featuring the super cute "soybean dog" mascot, great with other Mameshiba items and of course to fit your pens inside.
	J-Snacks for Halloween Neat, we have more Halloween-themed snacks for you, including Toppo and March of the Koalas in Halloween versions, plus White Chocolate Pakitz.
	Awesome New Hello Kitty Bento Items We've got a special bento shaper/cutter set for making Hello Kitty creations out of rice, plus fresh stock of our Hello Kitty Ball Bento Box.
	Totoro & Ponyo Bento The cutest bento lunch box accessories from your favorite Studio Ghibli movies -- kawaii meals on the go!
	MANEKINEKO Die-cut Lucky 2 tier Bento Box The luckiest of cats will accompany you at mealtime, with this good luck charm of a bento box - classic cute good fortune from Japan.
	Awesome Japanese Sandwich Makers Amazing sandwich cutters which remove the crusts and "seal" your sandwich for you. Back in stock today.
	Nori Punches Restocked. Too The nori punches that let you make cute faces on your rice balls, decorate bento and more -- restocked! Extremely popular with J-List customers.
	Wiener, Vegetable Shapers Get your food looking as cute as can be with the tech that makes it all possible, including the classic octopus hot dog slicer.
	Grapefruits and Lemon Fresh Juice Maker One of my favorite drinks in Japan is the "grapefruits" [sic] or lemon sour. It's a great izakaya drink that you can make at home.
	R2-D2 Pepper Mills and Soy Sauce Containers Would you like fresh ground pepper on that delicious salad? Would you like it to come from an R2-D2 pepper mill from Japan?
	Totoro Gamaguchi Coin Purse Wear Totoro on your hip or in your bag or pocket in this adorable coin purse, a genuine Studio Ghibli product.
	Japanese Night View ~ Nihon no Yakei When the sun falls a beautiful side of Japan emerges that we'll sure will fascinate you in the pages of this gorgeous photo book.
	Restocked Study Books Learn kanji 15 minutes a day, master Japanese "sound words" or understand the basics of Japanese grammar.
	Fundamentals of Manga Design Restocked Aspiring manga artists take note - this is the one book you need to get started, or polish your craft to perfection. Back in stock!
	Cirno, Super Sonico Figures *Preorder* New preorders up today for figures of Touhou Project's Cirno, and the cute Nitroplus mascot Sonico. Moe to the max!
	Saber, Protoman Figures *Preorder* The amazing Dark Saber preorder is open again, and a new Protoman action figure from Megaman making his debut. Preorder now!
	Japanese Calligraphy Pens, Notebooks See fresh stock of our classic fude (foo-day) brush style pen, plus Campus notebooks and the Pilot Gel Ink Pens and "paper clay" for crafts.
	Nu ~ Yuri Kobayashi It's not hard to see what "nu" stands for in the title as Yuri bares it all for the lucky viewers of this great photobook!
	How to Go Steady with a Nurse, Restocked Also, fresh stock of one of my favorite series ever, How To Go Steady With a Nurse, which I am linking to since the art is so good, I just had to.
	Zhang Xiao Yu's Virtual Sex Doll Full Set A complete set that comes with all you need to experience this sensational Chinese actress -- a great novelty item!

Ambulances, Hospitals and Japan

If you ever read a news article about an accident fatality that occurred in Japan, you'll read words like "the victim was taken to a hospital but died shortly after arriving." It's not that 100% of injured people wait until reaching the hospital to perspire -- in Japan, medical attention begins at the hospital, rather than in the ambulance. Although Japan has a well-run healthcare system which adequately cares for the nation's 127 million citizens to the point that Japanese are the longest-lived people in the world, hospitals aren't always the most modern, a fact I was reminded of the other day when I went to doctor for an eye problem and heard a dot matrix printer churning away in the background somewhere. To Japan's embarrassment, ambulances are essentially only for transportation of the sick and injured, and little if any medical care is given to patients as they ride to the hospital. Why this should be is a complex question -- the pride of doctors not wanting anyone else to do their jobs, the massive conservatism of ambulance drivers, who are "special" civil servants enjoying lifelong employment, and general slowness to change, are all As the country ages, this is one area that certainly needs to be addressed urgently.

K-On! Girls Promote the Japanese Census

It's time for the Japanese National Census, when the government sends out forms asking every head-of-household to report on their family, including number of dependents, what education level each has attained, and what kind of household it is (for example, a so-called two-household residence, for people who live with their elderly parents). Although it seems similar to the U.S. census, there are a lot of differences. There are no questions about ancestry in this country where 98% of people believe themselves to be of the same genetic stock -- even if that's only a convenient social fantasy -- and questions about religion are similarly absent, as that's considered a private matter. It's not only Japanese who are asked to fill in their census forms: gaijin get them too, and the foreign staff of J-List all filled theirs in dutifully. While the U.S. census changes from decade-to-decade based on the social trends of the day, Japan's seems to be pretty much the same every time. Well, with one difference: this year Kyoto Prefecture used the K-On! girls to remind citizens to turn their census forms in on time, which I thought was pretty cool.

Peter's Culture Festival Episode

Over the weekend I went to my daughter's bunka-sai or school culture festival. Anyone who's watched more than a few episodes of anime will have quite a bit of knowledge about the kinds of activities seen at these school events, with each class or school club operating coffee shops, selling yakitori chicken on a stick, or doing something related to their club, like the shop my daughter's English club ran selling American candy to the other students. I had fun roaming the halls, stopping at the "Haundet Mansion" (very scary stuff in there) and the school's M.A.C. or Manga and Anime Club, which published a doujinshi made by all the members. (It wasn't very good, but I bought a copy to show my support to the kids.) While I was at the culture festival, I made a point of pretending not to speak Japanese, to see what kind of reaction I'd get from the students. Most were flustered at idea that they would ever have to use the English they'd learned for nearly six years, but a few blazed ahead, speaking broken English with me and not caring if they made mistakes (which is the correct attitude to have, believe me). It wasn't quite quite as moe as K-On! but it was a lot of fun.

I had fun at my daughter's school culture festival.

Discover Japan through 'Food Drops' Candies

There are many ways to learn about Japan, including through martial arts, through the Japanese language or through popular culture in general. Or you could explore Japan through its exotic food, using the amazing Food Drops traditional candies that J-List sells. From the tip of Hokkaido all the way down to Okinawa, all of Japan's most delightful foods are captured in candy form -- even the wonderful flavors available at Akihabara's best maid cafes are available.

Cool Products Monday, October 4, 2010

Here are today's "really cool products" that I've picked out for you, out of the 30+ new items we've added to the J-List and JBOX.com sites today. Note that some products may be "not safe for work" but that all links will allow you to redirect yourself either to the J-List or JBOX.com websites. To see all the J-List products, check out J-List or the JBOX.com updated products link.

	NyanType vol. 12 Why do we love NyanType? Why, because of all the awesome omake (free stuff), in the form of many awesome original posters and more.
	Comic Yuri Hime S vol. 14 Autumn 2010 A special issue of Yuri Hime called Yuri Hime S, which is another 500 pages of awesomeness featuring anime girls falling in love with other girls.
	Revoltech Protect Gear ~ Kerberos Saga We have those Jin-Roh Revoltech figures in too, so detailed and awesome-looking. In stock and ready to buy.
	Evangelion Sticky Mat ~ Central Dogma Then, keep your iPhone in its Evangelion case from sliding around your car with this Eva no-slide mat.
	More Touhou Project Oppai Mouse Pads We have three more mouse pads for Touhou fans which, ah, provide important wrist support, blah blah blah. Click to view.
	Restocked Touhou Games Touhou is a line of doujin shooting games that was so well conceived, it ended up becoming a huge source of pop culture. We now have two of the awesome games in stock for you.
	One Piece Fragrant Pens Awesome! Here's a set of three One Piece pens that write with aromatic ink. Ramune, Cola and Chocolate.
	R.U.R.U.R - petit prince - A cool PSP port of the popular eroge, enabling you to play the awesome title anywhere.
	Hello Kitty Earphones These are nothing less than the cutest earphones we've ever carried on J-List, a pair of high quality in-ear earphones.
	iTunes Japan Prepaid Cards iTunes Japan is more than a great way to get the top anime songs -- you can track all the most popular JPOP groups like AKB48. Click to see the top singles this week.
	Little Devil Ageha ~ Koakuma Ageha Sep 2010 The word <>ageha refers to an especially beautiful butterfly, which has come to represent the stylish girls who populate Tokyo's Shibuya region.
	Girlie Border Over Knee Socks Then enjoy more of those awesome striped over-knee socks, which go so well with a mini-skirt to create "the Absolute Zone."
	Super Awesome Japanese Snacks Today's new offerings include Pumpkin Pocky for Halloween (!), Van Houten Chocolate Biscuits, Ramune Puccho Gummy plus Miracle Mix Bublicious!
	Japanese Miso Soup Bowls, More Nothing tastes as good as a bowl of steaming miso soup in the morning. See fresh stock of these miso soup bowls today.
	Japanese Kerria Ellipsoidal Bento Box This is a nice traditional looking bento box from Japan's famous maker, Hakoya. Gorgeous styling, yet it's large in size and functional, too.
	Studio Ghibli Bento Box, Other Items Restocked We've also restocked several of our favorite My Neighbor Totoro bento boxes, plus that plush Soot Sprite for your car.
	Chopper Man One Piece Bento One Piece is the most popular anime in Japan these days, and we've restocked the awesome Chopper Man bento today.
	Kawaii Boiled Egg Shapers, Sandwich Cutters See other fun items, like hard boiled egg shapers and onigiri rice ball molds.
	Hello Kitty Seaweed Cutter set ~ Nori Nukikata set Make gorgeous Hello Kitty bento every time with this nori cutter, a great idea for making Sanrio bento.
	Hello Kitty Stuff Restocked Got some other Hello Kitty items restocked too, including traditional chirimen coin purses and that awesome sandwich cutter.
	Taiyaki, Rice Burger Makers Two cool items restocked: our taiyaki maker for creating the famous Japanese treat, plus our "rice burger press."
	Microwave Rice Cookers Also, two popular rice cookers are restocked, including the compact electrical one that you can use at work.
	Nihon Mukashi Banashi Karuta Karuta is a traditional card game for learning hiragana, as well as about Japan's history.
	Japanese Study Aids: Check Age Pen Also for students of Japanese, the Check Age Pen Set that helps you memorize any information, as if by magic.
	Restocked Bilingual Books See fresh stock of several outstanding bilingual books for studying Japanese, including the Illustrated Japanese Language Dictionary and more.
	Restocked Traditional Items Some really nice restocked items, including the Four Seasons Kokeshi wooden dolls, Super Mini Daruma, traditional comb & mirror, plus a sumo wrestling game.
	Rei Ayanami Plugsuits ver. Figma *Preorder* Oh neat, a new Figma for Eva fans, featuring a gorgeously designed Rei. She even has a chair to sit ing!
	ToHeart2. Hayate Figures Other fun figures you can preorder too, including Sorceress Manaka from ToHeart2 and Hermoine from Hayate no Gotoku.
	Asuka no Jikan ~ Asuka Hoshino Then watch out -- the lovely Asuka-chan has gone from being a popular bikini model to showing us much more.
	Ero Artbooks Restocked Master illustrator Tony Taka's epic artbook is back in stock, for how long we don't know. Also enjoy Push!! Illustration Archives.
	J-List's Anniversary Sale Remember, October is J-List's anniversary month, and we're giving you free shipping on all dating-sim games.